


The Voice Of My Heart Speaks To You

by IrxnStrxnge



Series: IronStrange Week 2019 [7]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Magic, Patronus, Ravenclaw!Stephen, Ravenclaw!Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 05:31:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19192759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrxnStrxnge/pseuds/IrxnStrxnge
Summary: IronStrange Week 2019 | Prompt Seven: "Alternate Universe"IronStrange Bingo 2019 | Square: "Heart"A specific Defence The Dark Arts lesson on how to produce a patronus turns very interesting - for both Stephen and Tony





	The Voice Of My Heart Speaks To You

“Mister Stark. Perhaps you would like to tell us what is humouring you?”

Tony’s head whips around to look at the front of the class. Professor Fury is staring at him, his one good eye enough to make a damn good death glare. He swallows, his hands nervously rearranging the papers on his desk.

“No, professor. I’m sorry - it won’t happen again.” For a moment, it looks like Fury might not let him off the hook that easily but then he sighs deeply and turns back towards the chalkboard. He lets out a little breath of relief himself.

Beside him, Stephen snickers. It’s quiet, too quiet for the professor to hear with his back towards the class. So, Tony elbows him in the rips. “Ass.”, he mutters into his hand. Tony wouldn’t have laughed if it hadn’t been for Stephen’s stupid drawing.  
  
He quietly unfolds it to take another look. It is of professor Fury and pictures him with an uncharacteristically bright smile - and both eyes. There is a cat in front of him which he attempts to pick up right before it raises its paw and scratches him in the eye.  
  
Tony has to bite his tongue. His eyes dart to the smooth handwriting under the moving lines.

_You think this is how he lost his eye?_

He can’t help himself and does his best to cover the laugh that escapes him with a loud cough. He thinks he did it well - considering he almost choked on his spit and turned it into a genius coughing.

Fury doesn’t buy it, however.

“Mister Stark.”

He kicks Stephen under the table - hard. He doesn’t even flinch.  
  
“I guess your answer remains the same?”, comes the exhausted question. He nods slowly. “Very well then. How about you tell us everything you learned about the patronus charm in your fifth year, instead?”  
  
Tony beams. He can do that. He’s read all about the patronus charm back when they were first introduced to it. It had been a fascinating concept for him back then and it still is to this day.

“The patronus charm is one of the most famous and difficult to perform defensive spells.”, he starts to explain happily. Stephen softly chuckles, for a different reason this time. “It takes the form of a white, fog-like smog which is referred to as an incorporeal patronus.”    
  
Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see Stephen waggle his eyebrows. He pouts and shoots him an angry glance.  
  
“Mister Strange. Take over from here on, please.”  
  
To his credit, Stephen doesn’t show that he has been caught off-guard but Tony can see how his hands flinch for the shortest of seconds. “Of course.”, he calmly agrees. “An incorporeal patronus is not a true patronus, however. It can only grant you limited protection.”  
  
Fury nods, a small smirk playing in the corner of his lips. “Continue.”

Stephen grins. “The corporeal patronus is what holds the whole defensive power and takes the form of an animal.” He leans back in his chair and waits for Fury to question him further.  
  
“What animal, Mister Strange?”

Tony watches as the man beside him raise an eyebrow at the question. “Depends on the person casting the charm. It varies.”

“The patronus charm is a defensive spell as Mister Stark already told the class but what exactly does it protect you from?”  
  
“It’s the only charm that is able to fend off dementors.”  
  
“Very good, Mister Strange.”, Fury comments before attempting to turn back around. Tony manages to raise his hand and get his attention before that. “Yes, Mister Stark?”

“It can also be used to carry messages to other people.”, he quickly adds.

“Correct. Well done, Mister Stark.” Tony gives Stephen a smug grin. “Now, if you could just behave properly I might be able to gift Ravenclaw a few points.” His smile drops and he grudgingly turns his head back towards the front of the class.

The professor proceeds to summarize their contributions on the board as he quietly watches.

“What’s with the long face, Anthony?”

“Shut up or he’ll really start to take points away from us.”  
  
“That would be a terrible thing to happen to a prefect of all people now, huh?”, Stephen softly murmurs causing Tony to roll his eyes. He’s sure that he can see Fury halt in his movements for a second before resuming his task. Not wanting to risk actually losing points, he chooses to remain silent.  
  
“Now, we still haven’t talked about how one actually can produce a patronus. Mister Rogers.” Tony turns slightly to get a better look at the blonde slytherin boy who had been busy scribbling something down in his notebook before Fury called him. By the way he flinches Tony doubts that it has anything to do with class.  
  
“Yes, professor?”, Steve says a tad too loudly.  
  
“Tell us what is required to produce a patronus.”

He’s quiet for a second and Tony can see his blue eyes darting to Natasha before he clears his throat and starts talking. “Uhm, the caster needs to create a pure, protective magical concentration of happiness and hope.” He sounds unsure and Tony does his best to throw him an approving look to signal him that he’s right.  
  
Steve catches his eye and smiles quickly before finishing. “It should be a single memory of pure happiness and joy. Has to be a really strong one too. Otherwise, it won’t work.”

“Very well.”, the professor says and finishes the notes on the board. “Today, we are going to attempt to cast a patronus ourselves. As already said, this spell is extremely difficult so don’t be too disappointed if it doesn’t work immediately.”

They all stand up and move towards the middle of the room while the Fury flicks his wand a couple of times to stag the tables on top of each other and against the wall to give them the room they need.  
  
Tony follows Stephen as he walks over to talk to Bruce who is quietly brooding over the opened notebook in his hands. “Are you excited, Bruce? Finally something challenging.”, the taller boy asks while getting his wand out.  
  
“Oh, yeah. I just hope I won’t make a fool of myself.”, he answers without looking up. “And that Fury will go easy on us.”

Tony huffs. “When does he ever?” That earns him a raised eyebrow from Bruce before he shuffles off to put his notebook away and get ready. He glances at Stephen who gives him a pointed look before nodding towards the front of the classroom where Fury is standing, wand raised.  
  
“Attention everyone.” He widens his stance slowly. “I will now perform the spell for everyone to see. Then, it will be your turn. Feel free to ask for my help when you need it.” Tony can see his eyes focusing on something they can’t see before he calls out the spell in a loud and stern voice. “Expecto Patronum!”  
  
White emits from his wand and collects in the space in front of them. It looks like a big cloud until a little creature jumps out from the bright pool to run around their feet. Tony stares at it in disbelief. “A cat?”, he whispers to Stephen who is having the same dumbfounded look on his face.

“I… didn’t expect that.” The feline does another round around the students before disappearing back into white light. “Gives a new perspective towards my masterpiece, don’t you think?”

Tony snickers and shakes his head. The whole class watches as Fury puts away his wand and signals them to start practising. His foot starts to nervously tap against the floor as he observes Stephen.  
  
“You think this is gonna be tough?”, he asks, a bit uncertain as the students around them start to cast the spell. He doesn’t want to be the only one to fail which he knows is ridiculous, considering that this is one of the most adept spells they can learn. Still-

“Of course this is going to be tough but we got this.”, Stephen assures him, voice calm and deep. He doesn’t seem too concerned. “Just close your eyes and concentrate. We’ve read about all of this before.”

Tony cocks his head to the side, eyebrows furrowing. “Yeah but it’s one thing to read about it in a book and another to actually do it.”, he argues but Stephen waves him off.  
  
“Getting cold feet now, are we?”, his friend teases him and Tony straightens his back quickly.  
  
“No.”

“Good. Now concentrate.”

Tony obeys. He closes his eyes and thinks. _A single memory of pure happiness and joy._ His first impulse is to let his mind wander to his mother, and those last blissful days with her and he knows that if he can just shut out all the horrible things that happened after - that it might work.

But his brain is a machine - never stopping, never slowing down. He can’t think about the happy memories without letting the bad one overflow him as well - and it is in that moment that he starts to panic.

His stupid head goes into overdrive - yet again. What if he isn’t able to produce a patronus? What if there are just not enough happy things in his life to do it? What if there actually are enough but he’s too stupid to isolate them? What if-

“Hey, Anthony.”

His eyes fly open and his head turns. Stephen is beside him, a smirk on his face. Tony’s heart sinks - did he already manage to produce one? He scans the room but there is no white-glowing animal in sight, only a few fog-like clouds produced by some of their classmates. He looks back at his friend.

“Hm?”

“Do you remember that day in our fourth year when we managed to convince peeves to go completely insane during professor Coulson’s transformation lesson?”, he asks before chuckling deeply.  
  
Tony frowns but nods. “Of course. Why?”

“Coulson actually had to end the lesson early and we got to leave before any other class.” Tony smiles as the memories come back to him. Peeves had done a great job driving the professor off the wall.  
  
“Yeah.”, he softly agrees. “That was cool. Oh, and do you remember how - since no one else had finished class at this point - we had the whole school grounds to ourselves?” It had been a beautiful day, perfect for a nice walk through the grounds of Hogwarts.

They had spent most of it relaxing on a cliff overlooking the great lake - Stephen engrossed in a book about healing magic and Tony flicking little stones over the cliff to watch them disappear in the lake under them.  
  
They had stayed until the sun began disappearing behind the lake, painting the water in a golden light. Stephen had been forced to practically drag him away from the magnificent view.  
  
It had been so peaceful - Tony didn’t want to leave.

“We are lucky Peeves didn’t tell on us.” Tony blinks at the sound of Stephen’s voice, the image of the sunset slowly fading away in the back of his mind - replaced with the classroom. “Coulson would have taken away all our points.”

Stephen is grinning like a mad-man and he shakes his head at him. To think that some people really think he’s the responsible one out of the two of him. It had been his friend’s idea to talk to the damn ghost and convince him to tease Coulson.

“You know, I really wonder how you managed to become the head boy.”  
  
“Says the prefect who costs the house more points than anyone else.”

Tony’s mouth switches upwards. “Smartass.” A thought crosses his mind. “Why did you bring that up?” Stephen shrugs before answering.  
  
“I just thought about it, that’s all.”  
  
He squints at him and raises his wand to poke him into the shoulder. “Better think about your happiest memory, now.” He doesn’t quite know what it is but he figures that it had probably something to do with his sister. He knows how fond Stephen is of her.

His friend gives him a weird look, almost solemn. “Mhm.”, he murmurs and gets ready to cast the spell. Tony takes a step back and almost collides with Steve who is silently cursing at his wand.  
  
“Sorry!”, he apologizes quickly but Steve tells him it’s alright before going back to practising the spell.  
  
Tony’s attention shifts back to Stephen. He is standing there with his wand arm outstretched, eyes closed. His nose is scrunched up in deep concentration - little wrinkles forming around it. It’s kind of adorable.

His mouth curls into a small smile right before he casts the spell. “Expecto Patronum.” His voice is warm and steady, the smile clearly reflecting in it and then white light is filling the air around them.

He can do nothing but watch in amazement as the mass in front of him starts to take on a form. His eyes grow big.

“Is that- is that a bird?!”, Tony practically howls once the white fog lifts to reveal Stephen’s animal. It really is a bird. Truthfully, it looks majestic with the way it spreads his wings wide before taking off and circling them from above. “That’s so cute, Steph!”

“Ha, ha. Very funny, Anthony.”, Stephen replies drily but his gaze is locked on the creature’s movements. There is a distant look of pure awe on his face which makes Tony’s heart skip a beat. He’s proud of his friends, no matter the teasing.

Other students turn towards the pair and the patronus and start to chatter excitedly. “I think they are impressed. You’re the first one to cast a corporeal one.”, he quietly remarks, all the while observing the bird playing in the air.  
  
“Not exactly. Romanoff also cast hers.”, Stephen explains and points at the redhead who is standing in one of the corners of her room, a smug smile on her face. Tony squints and his eyes scan the area around her in search of her patronus.  
  
“Whe-” He almost jumps back when he sees the nimble creature crawling on the floor. The spider is uncharacteristically big and it freaks him out just a bit. “Well, if I was a dementor I’d be scared shitless.”  
  
Stephen raises an eyebrow and turns to look at him. “Of Romanoff or her patronus spider?”

Tony grins back at him. “Yeah.” The other boy rolls his eyes right before his own patronus lets out a loud screech and lands on Tony’s shoulder. “Oh! Hello there.” There is no weight he can feel, of course - but the spot where the creature sits starts to emit a calming heat which spreads through his whole body.  
  
“I think it’s a raven.” He almost forgot that Stephen is still in front of him. “He sounds like one, at least.” His hand reaches out and hovers in front of the bird’s head, waiting. The raven looks at it for a moment before letting out another, much quieter, sound and nuzzling into it. “It’s really warm.”

  
“Yeah.” He quietly watches the exchange with a smile. “A bird though, Steph. I expected something more…” He pauses for a second - simply for the dramatic effect. “eccentric.” The raven turns to stare at him and softly calls out. Tony makes a face. “Sorry.”

“Alright then, you dick. Go ahead. Cast yours and amaze me.” Stephen loudly whistles and his patronus takes off from his shoulder to hover over them in the air. “I’m waiting.”

“Okay. Watch this.” He closes his eyes and lets Stephen’s earlier words wash over him. He remembers how warm the sun had been on that day - remembers how green the grass had been in the sunlight.  
  
He thinks about him and Stephen on that cliff, overlooking the lake - him training his transformation skills and the taller boy reading a book. It had been such a beautiful day. Tony takes a deep breath and remembers the way Stephen’s soft hair had been blown in his face by the wind, causing his usually neat hairstyle to be a ruffled up.

Right before he lifts his wand to cast the spell he remembers Stephen and the smile he had flashed him when their eyes met. He has no time to think about why that is apparently his happiest memory before he can feel his skin beginning to tingle.  
  
His body grows warm, almost like he is sitting in front of the calming fire in the ravenclaw common room. The grip on his wand tightens. “Expecto Patronum.”, Tony softly whispers - the last image in his brain still of Stephen and his smile.

He can feel the warmth shooting through his body and into his arm and then erupting from the tip of his wand into the air. His eyes slowly blink open just in time to see the white smoke slowly taking the form of-

of-

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”, Tony yells while staring at the creature in front of him. The bird is sitting in the air, his beak pecking his own wing. “It’s - it’s the same!”  
  
Beside him, Stephen is bent forward and laughing deeply. Tony kicks him rather hard and he hisses disapprovingly and straightens his back again. “No, no it’s not.”, he remarks after wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.  
  
“It’s not?”

“No, yours is smaller, I believe.” And then he is back to laughing like a maniac, his own patronus observing him in slight confusion.  
  
Tony throws his head back and lets out a loud groan. “You’ve got to be shitting me!”  
  
“10 points from Ravenclaw, Mister Stark.” He turns to see professor Fury standing beside Wong, apparently in the middle of explaining something about the hand movement. “But well done with the spell.”

Tony goes back to watching his patronus. “Fuck.”, he whispers to himself.

“Another 10 points.”  
  
“SHI-”  
  
“Tony!” Stephen slaps his arm as a warning. “Shut it.” Tony pouts but keeps quiet while his bird finishes with his grooming and takes off to fly. Just like Stephen’s, it lets out a few sounds from time to time and he cringes when he realises that they are way more high pitched than those of the raven.

“What kind of bird is this?”

“I’d say a crow.”  
  
He can feel the colour drain from his face. “Aren’t they a sign of death?” His knowledge in animal symbolism isn’t very advanced but he’s sure to have heard about that somewhere - or read it in a book.

Stephen is quick to soothe him. “They can be, in certain cultures. In others, they are a sign of rebirth or intelligence.” He makes a face. “Okay, maybe that’s not it, either.”  
  
“Ass.”

“You know it.”

“Whatever.” His crow is still gliding through the air, its movements not as graceful as that of the raven. Still, Tony gazes fondly at the animal, finally realising that he actually managed to cast a corporeal patronus. “We did it.”, he whispers in amazement.  

“Yes.” Stephen uses his elbow to gently nudge him in the side. “Well done, Anthony.” Above them, his raven is screeching hysterically and both of them watch in confusion as the animal flies over to Tony’s.

“What is your patronus doing?!”, Tony hisses when the bigger bird starts to peck the little one on the head. His crow lets out a disapproving sound and takes off quickly - to no avail. Stephen’s patronus is close behind him and they make use of the whole room until they are practically circling each other.

A lot of their classmates stop to watch the showoff, a few confused expressions here and there and Tony cringes slightly. “Stephen, tell your patronus to stop!”

  
His friend is raising his hands in surrender, looking lost and a bit panicked himself. “I don’t know how! It’s not like I want him to do that!” Tony groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. He turns away from the spectacle and takes a deep breath.  
  
Suddenly, there is nothing but silence - until Stephen lets out a confused “Uhm…” No, not so much confused; more like embarrassed. Really embarrassed. Tony turns back - and freezes.  
  
Their patronuses are perched on one of the desks, sitting together. The raven is snuggling into his crow’s chest, its head almost disappearing under the feathers of the other bird. One long wing is tightly wrapped around the smaller animals body.  
  
Tony stares - waits for his patronus to fly away but it does nothing of that sort. It just croaks in approval and rests its own head on the other animal. He side-eyes Stephen, trying to get his reaction.  
  
His heart flutters. Stephen is staring at him too, his eyes big and… scared? Tony blinks at him and slowly points at the birds. “Steph, they-”

“Yeah.”, he answers slowly, swallowing visibly. “I can see.” He looks like he wants to say something else but stops with his mouth still open. “W-”

“Mr Stark. Mr Strange.”

They both whip around to face their professor. He is staring down at them with a smirk on his face. “Well done with the spell but perhaps that is enough for the lesson.”, he suggests in a light tone.  
  
Tony quickly nods and concentrates on his patronus until it disappears into white fog. The raven lets out an angry screech right before disappearing as well. Apparently, Stephen had done the same as him.  
  
“Impressive, both of you. 30 points to Ravenclaw.” Tony is barely paying attention to his words. His eyes are still glued on his friend who has the fiercest blush he had ever seen on his face. He almost doesn’t see Fury turn to the whole class to announce that it’s the end of the lesson.  
  
Some students throw them a few looks while exiting the classroom but Tony doesn’t mind. He takes a step towards Stephen. “Steph-” The other boy takes off without so much as a glance in his direction.

It’s a split-second decision. Tony thinks back to the memory he used to create his patronus - his happiest and most joyful moment in life… and then he starts running after him. He catches up with him after a few seconds.

“Stephen! Wait!”  
  
Stephen stops dead in his tracks and turns back to him. “Tony, listen-” Tony doesn’t listen. Instead, he grabs the taller boy by the collar and pulls him down and into a kiss. His eyes fall shut as their mouths meet.  
  
Stephen’s lips are thin and warm, an unknown feeling against his own - but welcome. Very, very welcome. He slowly opens his eyes again just to find Stephen’s tightly closed. He can almost hear him thinking, can almost hear his brain going into overdrive. He doesn't want that.

Tony pulls back slightly, only leaving minimum space between their faces to breathe. “Wow.”, he remarks quietly. Stephen’s green-blue orbs blink open. It’s almost like they’re shining. “I’m sorry, I just thought that-”  
  
“Shut up, Tony.” Then, Tony is the one getting kissed and hell will freeze over before he complains about it. His hand is tightly wrapped into Stephen’s robes and he uses it to pull him as close as possible while their mouths softly brush against each other.

When they finally pull apart again, Tony is sure that his cheeks are just as pink as the other boy’s. “So, that was okay?”, he sheepishly asks. “I didn’t really think-”

“When do you ever think, Tony?”, Stephen interrupts him with a deep chuckle. Tony pouts at him and receives another kiss as an apology. “Sorry but no, I didn’t mind. I hope you got that.”

Tony cocks his head to the side, not breaking eye-contact. “So, that discussion over our free day together-”  
  
“-was the memory I used to conjure the patronus, yeah.” Now, Stephen is the one with the sheepish look on his face and it suits him way too well. “I didn’t really want to admit it…”  
  
“It’s alright.” Tony grins at him. “It’s the memory I used as well.”, he admits happily. Stephen’s eyes grow big at that.  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“Yeah.” His adrenaline begins to fade and he bites the inside of his cheek. “So, is this a thing now?” He flinches back. “I don’t mean this. I mean us. You know what I am trying to say, right?”

“I-” Stephen carefully leans back to watch him. “If you want to try, yes, sure. I mean, I want to if you-” Tony can’t remember him ever stumbling over words like that. It’s really adorable.

“Yes.”, he says, trying to sound as confident as possible.

Stephen raises an eyebrow. “Yes?”  
  
Tony nods. “Yeah.”

The tall boy lets out a loud sigh and shakes his head. “I can’t believe it took our patronuses for us to see.”  
  
“Well,”, Tony mentions softly. “They are a product of our hearts most treasured memories. Does it really surprise you?” He can feel Stephen leaning down to rest his head on top of Tony’s own, nose buried in his dark hair. It feels amazing - it feels right.

“I guess not.”, he quietly says. “I guess not.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Well, now that I have written a Harry Potter - AU I kind of want to write a million more. Also, I put both Stephen & Tony in Ravenclaw since that is my own house, so... 
> 
> Hope you liked it! Comments and feedback are highly appreciated!


End file.
